1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process and apparatus for recovering the constituent components of a battery. More particularly, the present invention relates to a process and apparatus which enable to efficiently dissociate constituent components of a battery one from the other and efficiently recover these components.
2. Related Background Art
In recent years, global warming from the so-called greenhouse effect has been predicted due to increased level of atmospheric CO.sub.2. To prevent this warming phenomenon from further developing, there is a tendency to prohibit the construction of new thermal power plants which convert thermal energy obtained by burning fossil fuel or the like into electric energy, where a large quantity of CO.sub.2 is exhausted.
Under these circumstances, proposals have been made to institute load leveling in order to effectively utilize power. Load leveling involves the installation of rechargeable batteries at general locations to serve a storage for surplus power unused in the night, known as dump power. The power thus stored is available in the day time when the power demand is increased, leveling the load requirements in terms of power generation.
Separately, there is an increased societal demand for developing a high performance rechargeable battery with a high energy density for an electric vehicle which would not exhaust air polluting substances such as COx, NOx, CH, and the like. There is a further increased societal demand for developing a miniature, lightweight, high performance rechargeable battery usable as a power source for potable instruments such as small personal computers, word processors, video cameras, and pocket telephones.
For the batteries including rechargeable batteries for such uses as above mentioned, there have been developed so-called nickel-metal hydride batteries and rechargeable lithium ion batteries.
Such nickel-metal hydride battery is a rechargeable battery in which a hydrogen storage (absorbing) alloy capable of storing hydrogen ion therein is used as the anode active material of the anode and the performance of the hydrogen ion to get in and out the anode active material is utilized. In the case where a misch metal is used as the hydrogen storage alloy of the anode active material, the anode is usually formed by fixing a powdery misch metal onto an anode collector with the use of a resin binder. The cathode is usually formed by filling a porous nickel material with nickel hydroxide (specifically, nickelous hydroxide).
As a typical example of such rechargeable lithium ion battery, there is known a rocking chair type lithium ion battery in which a carbonous material such as graphite is used as the anode active material, an intercalation compound intercalated with lithium ion is used as the cathode active material, and the lithium ion is intercalated into the six-membered network planes provided by carbon atoms to store in the battery reaction upon charging. The anode of the lithium ion battery is usually formed by fixing the carbonous material onto an anode collector comprising a given metal foil with the use of a resin binder. The cathode of the lithium ion battery is usually formed by fixing a mixture composed an oxide of a transition metal compound in powdery form as the cathode active material and an electrically conductive auxiliary comprising an amorphous carbon material onto a cathode collector comprising a given metal foil with the use of a resin binder.
Incidentally, these batteries have been currently using particularly in various potable instruments, and it is considered that the consumption of them will be further increased as new potable instruments are developed. Therefore, for used batteries, a societal demand for recovering them and recycling their components will be more increased in the future not only in terms of environmental protection but also in viewpoints that new rechargeable batteries are expected to be developed in the future so that they can be used in electric vehicles, load conditioners, power storage, or the like.
However, for the nickel-metal hydride batteries and rechargeable lithium ion batteries, particularly in order for them to have a stable performance, the respective electrodes (the anode and cathode) are formed by firmly fixing the anode or cathode active material to the corresponding collector, and because of this, to recover these active materials by separating from the collectors can not be easily conducted. In view of this, there will be an increased demand for providing a method which enables to efficiently separate the active materials from the collectors whereby desirably recover them.